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Monday, October 27, 2008

The Continuing Deconstruction Of My Boat

Well Im still at it. David kept pointing at the patch job and telling me all the caulking had to be taken out,so I finally got around to doing that. All proud of myself because I spent about 3 hours doing it only to find out he meant the whole boat not just the patch job. That was another job I wasn't expecting and a brutal one to say the least.I spent eleven and a half hours working on that the other day and got about half the job done. I figure Ive done about 730 feet of caulking removal so far. All I can say is OUCH!! Each board has an inch of candlewick-like stuffing between it covered over with some kind of silicone-like substance that is stuck on there for life. I had to pry it all out one inch at a time. My arms were killing me when I finally called it a night.I didnt sleep a wink as my right arm went totally numb and tingly with a burning pain from hell that kept me wide awake. Thankfully that resolved itself the next day but had me scared for awhile.

I took the next day off and rested all day. That evening I went to the Parade of Lost Souls, always a treat for the senses and then off to a friends for a good jam session. It was awesome to get out, its been way to long since Ive had anything resembling a social life.

Originaly, I had intended to replace all the rotten boards with new ones, but that was looking like the job from hell, so decided to do something I swore I wouldnt.Im putting in large plywood patches instead. I spent the last two days making patterns from white board and cutting out 3 layers of plywood to fit the two big holes.

Today I finally gathered the courage to suit up and paint them all with fiberglass resin. While it was drying, I put in the rest of the new ribs.It all sounds so simple on paper but each job has many steps and lots of prep work to get all the tools and supplies together and the space prepared for the task at hand. When I look at the boat, not much seems different but I have spent endless hours on it. I can hardly wait till it starts going back together, the more I remove from it, the less it looks like something that will ever float again.

David has offered me one of his Dickinson diesel stoves for my boat. It needs a serious good cleaning/rebuilding and I would have to rip out the existing area where the wood stove is and rebuild it to fit the stove. Then I'd have to figure where to put fuel tanks and vents ect. I guess part of my mind set with this boat is worst case senario and the world goes to shit, can I survive on it? I could be off the grid with diesel and propane but in a complete shutdown of services I would still be in trouble. A woodstove with a cooking surface and a water coil would be ideal, but hard to find in the size I need to fit my boat. I do have a propane furnace which means just one kind of fuel for hot water, cooking and heat but thats alot of propane connections on one boat, kind of scary. Whats a girl to do?

The transom removed

A view of some boards with the caulking removed and one that still needs work

The gaping hole in the transom filled with a sawdust and glue mixture

The plywood cutouts all laid out ready for flooding with fiberglass resin

LOL Jamie, I think its a bit of both, god knows if this thing will ever float again, but Im giving it my best shot. Dont have a clue what Im doing and get a different opinion from every single person I talk to,so just going with what I can afford and what I am capable of doing by myself as Im not getting much in the way of help

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What Can I Tell You?

After travelling the world as a military brat, I have finally settled in Vancouver, BC. I have had alot of adventures, experiences and lessons in life and decided I'd better record some of them before old age fog sets in and I forget it all. For everyone who has told me I should write a book, this my attempt to record the bizarre twists and turns of my life.